It seemed that back in the Star Dou Great Forest, when they first met Huo Yuhao and he spoke of how Feng Piaoling had looked after him along the way, he had said something very similar.
...
A moment later, Xu Sanshi stepped onto the soul dueling stage. His gaze flickered toward Bei Bei, who immediately nodded back in acknowledgment.
Feng Piaoling had also ascended the stage by this time. Stepping up with him was the same teacher who had served as the referee before—a Soul Saint with a flight-type martial soul.
The referee teacher seemed to think highly of Feng Piaoling. As he passed by his side, he sent a message via soul power transmission:
"Young man, your strength and talent are both excellent, but you are a bit too young and headstrong. If you lose in a moment, it will be no matter. I will personally plead your case to Dean Yan Shaozhe of the Martial Soul Department. I believe his Excellency would not wish to see a genius like you expelled over an inherently unfair duel."
Feng Piaoling feigned deafness, coming to a halt with an expressionless face, standing thirty paces apart from Xu Sanshi.
Seeing his reaction, the referee teacher assumed he was the type who appeared indifferent on the surface but was extremely proud at heart. He said no more and walked to the center of the two, announcing:
"Fifth-year Xu Sanshi challenges first-year Feng Piaoling. Should Xu Sanshi lose the match, he must pay Feng Piaoling one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins and two Mystic Water Pills."
This time, he once again omitted any mention of Feng Piaoling being expelled if he lost.
As a member of a noble clan, Xu Sanshi understood this perfectly well, but he wouldn't lose out either. If Feng Piaoling lost, Shrek Academy would surely grant him compensation to ensure Feng Piaoling stayed. Its value would be equal to, if not greater than, two Mystic Water Pills and one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.
Looking at Feng Piaoling and Xu Sanshi standing on the stage, a heated wave of discussion erupted from the students in the spectator stands.
"Dong'er, Lulu, who do you think will win?"
In the fifth row of the stands, the petite and cute Xiao Xiao asked Wang Dong and Zhu Lu with a smile, clutching a large bag of popcorn.
Zhu Lu froze for a moment. Recalling the sight of Dai Huabin being blasted into a pathetic state the previous day, she felt a strange sense of satisfaction as she instinctively replied:
"It should be Feng Piaoling. However, Xu Sanshi's strength cannot be underestimated. His Mystic Deep Tortoise is a particularly powerful, top-tier defense-system martial soul. His strength ranks among the very best even in the entire Outer Court."
Wang Dong'er added, "I also think it's Feng Piaoling. Although this guy is a bit annoying, I have to admit his strength is truly formidable."
"Hehe, I think so too," Xiao Xiao giggled, drooling slightly.
This earned her eye-rolls from both Zhu Lu and Wang Dong'er, who thought to themselves that she wasn't judging by strength at all, but was clearly captivated by his looks.
"The match begins." After the referee spoke, he retreated rapidly.
In the next instant, Feng Piaoling and Xu Sanshi released their martial souls simultaneously.
Feng Piaoling's soul rings remained Yellow, Purple, Purple. As his first soul ring glowed continuously, a flash of yellow light appeared in his hand, producing thirty to forty orange-yellow talismans inscribed with the character for "Blast."
"Is his second ring truly a thousand-year one? And this soul skill... the reason it's so powerful is likely because he absorbed a special fire-attribute soul beast beyond the standard limit, allowing this skill to be released dozens of times simultaneously. That's why his Talisman martial soul skills appear so overwhelming. It seems my guess was correct."
Seeing the soul rings on Feng Piaoling, Zhou Yi, sitting in the first row of the spectator stands, clearly had her eyes light up. The corners of her mouth curled slightly, and her eyes beneath her half-rimmed glasses flashed with a light she considered wise.
Xu Sanshi, seeing Feng Piaoling release his soul skill so quickly and recalling how Dai Huabin was nearly blasted to death, did not dare to be negligent. He immediately released his Mystic Deep Tortoise martial soul.
Two yellow and one purple soul ring rose from beneath his feet. Xu Sanshi's body expanded violently, stretching his school uniform taut. In his right hand, a massive turtle-shell shield appeared.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao also released his Spirit Eyes martial soul.
Tang Ya and Bei Bei exchanged a glance, tacitly moving to shield the already-active Huo Yuhao behind them.
With the assistance of Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing, Xu Sanshi immediately felt everything around him appear in his mind in a perfect three-dimensional display. His originally tense expression relaxed instantly.
He unhurriedly took a half-step back with his left foot and crouched slightly, holding the heavy shield in front of him. A pitch-black light surged from the turtle-shell shield, forming a faint black barrier that completely enveloped his body.
Feng Piaoling circulated his Heaven-Reaching Demon Eye, taking all of this in. In his vision, Xu Sanshi's mental energy was currently being guided by a faint, almost imperceptible thread of pale-gold mental energy.
Following this thread of mental energy discreetly, his gaze landed on Bei Bei and Tang Ya, who were protecting Huo Yuhao. Through the silhouette of the two, he could vaguely see two white soul rings flickering behind them.
"So that's how it is?"
Feng Piaoling rubbed his hands together and flicked them upward. In a flash of red light, thirty to forty basketball-sized fireballs shot forth, covering the distance to Xu Sanshi in the blink of an eye and heading straight for him.
"Holy crap!" Seeing such a dense cluster of fireballs, Xu Sanshi felt his scalp go numb. With such an incredibly fast attack speed, if it weren't for Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing, he would likely have followed in Dai Huabin's footsteps.
Even if he had counter-measures, he wouldn't have had time to use them. The fireballs were too fast and too dense; it was simply not a speed an ordinary person could react to.
At the critical moment, Xu Sanshi's first soul ring lit up. The black light on his turtle-shell shield instantly doubled in intensity, and a powerful black halo erupted from the shield. It was like a massive gas shield pushing outward, letting out a rumbling roar.
This was Xu Sanshi's first soul skill: Mystic Deep Quake. It was an area-of-effect knockback skill with a certain stunning effect. If the enemy's cultivation was lower than his, they would be briefly stunned; if higher, they would at least be knocked back to create distance. To some extent, if used well, it was the perfect counter to Feng Piaoling's first soul skill: Fireball Talisman.
The moment the thirty to forty fireballs approached, they were knocked back by the expanding black gas shield.
Seeing this, many Outer Court teachers who had come to watch assumed Xu Sanshi had achieved this through his own skill, nodding in approval one after another. This Xu Sanshi truly lived up to his reputation as a top-tier genius of the Outer Court. In terms of timing and control, even they, the Outer Court teachers, might not necessarily compare.
Having successfully repelled Feng Piaoling's fireballs, Xu Sanshi's confidence soared. He knew Feng Piaoling could instantly create a large number of Fireball Talismans. Without waiting for those fireballs to hit the ground, he seized the opportunity. His second and third soul rings lit up in rapid succession.
Enveloped in a barrier that rippled like black water and a thick, viscous special soul power, he charged toward Feng Piaoling. Furthermore, the skills of these two soul rings showed signs of merging with his first skill, Mystic Deep Quake.
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